Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-08-30
ADVERTISING SNAPS"
what Constitutes q Criminal Lisbilify
III These Cases-fioW advertising
strangers Work City
Words OF warning TO Merchantg-Konesty
Among "Snap' Advcrftscrs.
Noted Schemers.
Detroit ,JCurnEl

There appears 10 be perfect mEnia
for What are technically known IS Sd
ver.isi5g "snaps." Detroit IS not re
ouly srferer. The Snute business IN au
its essentials hes been worked il the
other large cities. Generally speaking
the scheme is this: 4 sharp advertising
mas comes into The city with first Iate
references from some large paper. lie
shows the manSger Of u newspaper 6
chance to- getting out special issue Of
his DzpsT, in Thich edition Ice Leading
lin@S CT business should he Given extended
notices AID the CaTas Of advertisers
DC inserted either in tie psp5r CT IL
z hook. CT IN both. A contract between
! publisher GHd advertising man IS eLrered
Into, AID If no-l sre honest the result is
good mo@ey made and me city benefited.
| Now, to newspaper I0l1 in his Own
Legitimate business virtually has 70 De
lCnsst. Il rs IS rot, his advertising pas-
rocaGe suffers for years. Ii Tie pre-
s.I;EtjoLs Ct the advertising agents arc
| not lived up %, The Whirlwi4d u indig-
ust,cl tnat results CT the part Of advor-
! tlscrs Is something in the nature Of
! cyclone; %2d advertisers co net recover
] from their bitterness for years.
On the other raud, the "Snap" 6dver-
thing man, should lie be dishonest, Is
III o-er no sach restraints. Usually be i8
z stranger, and when he has worked ere
| city DC caG % 20 the next. His business
is 30 make GnY representation met viii
each the advertiser. Consequently the
promises which re aDd MS gang q can-
vasseT3 make are limited Crly by tic de-
mands of the prospective advertiser,
TIE common dodge is II take q certain
sp1Ce and I'll! it ~ith lie cards Of every
firm but one in certain line Of business.
Yaen the Capyssser gees 30 that firm and
says: "Mr. S3-eud-S0 (naming the pro-
priet0r Ct the newspaper told me that if
l would come TO you, y0u would IN
Gou0tedly take this lest sp%ce." That lie
WCrks about every time.
When the advertiser is caiOlCd into
taking : cacd the mex: thing IS 20 get the
money in advance. Now, there is no
daily pGpar ia the city of Detroit Which y
so IA need Of money that's hiss TO Gsk pay
in advance for its Advertising. More
than that tnere is not daily p5pcr in The
city Wclld do so through its cMn regular
Representatives. Wren pay is asked il
advance az advertiser msy be sure thai
!
tcYested in the scheme.
[ Yet advance collections are necessary
70 tue life Of these schemes. The meu
who work them usually have no capital &c
Peg their canvasse1s In collecting in nd
vance they run few chances. Obtaining
money under promises OF something, nc
; matter how specifically stated, that ls &c
: be done in the future, does not constitute
legal grounds for z criminal indictment
/ Carva3ser may obtain Sl4 fer Gn adver-
) tisement in book, Of which he sg:ee:
that 5000 copies ere to be published, and
although It can be proved conc!uslyely
: that he knew st the lime that but 400
were TO be issued (and August Mr.
Sdute stated that this Waa as many as h
had intended 20 issue, still this is nc
: ground for criminal prosecution.
TO make 6 criminal Indictment lie tht
Ca,ly2sser must obtain money upon tx
strength CT q false representation eS 10 sl
existing fact, CT as to what las hecn full,
g completed, as thing OF the pest, such e!
collecting for au advertisement under tht
representation that the 5000 copies ha'
been fully printed es agreed Their
seems to be 2 great deal CT misspprehen
sion upon this point among the best bust
ness men. There is practically no redres;
for the advertiser WHO pays his money il
advance TO al irres p0Dsible p&rty.
: Now, tie written contracts made Wit
the advertisers in these snsp schemes art
e SO delightfully."- indefinite thst they bint
q the solicitors 10 nothing that cannot b
o easily fulfilled. 1t is in the spoken lie
that the definite promises are made.